Dec 20, 2011: Stewardship schemes are having little impact in stopping the decline of farmland birds.

Prof Ken Norris, from the University of Reading’s Centre for Agri-Environmental Research, said: “There were some slight changes in population growth, but the trends are the same with Environmental Level Stewardship (ELS) as they are without. It is clearly not having the impact we want it to have.”

In contrast, Agriculture Minister Jim Paice said the Government believed the schemes had been a ‘great success’.